I mentioned that my Christian responsibility was tested and I wasn't sure if I did the right thing. The story goes, that we were at the church in El Paso, when Pastor Rosemary came to us and said that there was a man in the parking lot that asked to speak to a "man." I'm not always sure that I act like a "man," but I think my age puts me in the man category. I headed outside with Chad and one of our mission leaders, Garrold. We found the gentleman outside and he shared his current situation with us. He said he was robbed in Juarez, made it across the border, but didn't have any money to get out of El Paso. He never said where he was from, but he was wanting to go to Dallas where his niece said she would pick him up. He was looking for about $68 for bus fare. He said he didn't drink or do drugs and just wanted to get out of El Paso. He was very emotional and kept calling Chad, "Holmes." Here are my thoughts on the story, broken down a bit.
1. He said he was robbed in Juarez, which if you know anything about the city, this is not only possible, but probable. The thought I had was, if they took his wallet, how did he get back across the border? Maybe they didn't take his passport, who knows. With the violence in the city, if his story is true, he's lucky they didn't shoot him, that seems to be the running theme there right now.
2. We couldn't hand him $68 dollars, because if he was scamming us, he would have just gotten what he was looking for, money for drugs or alcohol.
3. He claimed he didn't drink or do drugs, yet I smelled alcohol on him (at least it seemed like it to me). If he didn't drink or do drugs, what was he doing in Juarez in the first place? Right across the border are a bunch of bars and night clubs. There are a few markets as well, but he didn't appear to be the "shopping" kind of guy. What single guy goes to another country to buy ceramic turtles or that sort of thing? No guy I know. You have a wife, girlfriend or even a few buddies, then maybe, but by yourself? If he was visiting someone, he should have been able to get help from them. Seemed suspicious to me.
My thoughts, after the fact, were, if this story was true, wasn't I supposed to help my fellow man? I thought that maybe I should have called Pastor Rosemary back out to help him, seeing as how we didn't know the area or if there were other options for him. He said he was at the shelter the night before and the way they treated people there was "criminal." I thought, maybe we should have driven him to the bus station and bought him the ticket to Dallas. I don't know where the station is, but since we were in downtown El Paso and most Greyhound stations are located downtown, we were probably close. I wondered if his emotions were honest or worthy of an Academy award, because I thought the tears seemed genuine. To watch him walk away was a bit sad, but I'm still pretty sure his story was a bit, if not totally, bullshit. I questioned why he wanted to talk to a guy, when you would think that a woman might have a softer heart and be more willing to help. He had spoken to Pastor Rosemary, but asked for a man, so I wonder if he just didn't want to show his emotion to a woman. I know I'm totally over analyzing this, but after all, I was on a mission trip and my mission is to help people. Not just the people who I signed up to help, but anyone. I try to live my life that way. If his story was true, I just passed on an opportunity to do what Jesus commanded us to do.
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